When I was 10 I asked my parents if I could start drinking beer, but they said no. Then I asked if I could start a beer can collection, which was a fairly popular hobby back then, and they said yes.
I started locally, picking cans out of the street, garbage, and trading with friends. When my mom would drive down to the liquor store on Friday nights for here usual two can purchase, I'd tag along and guide her in her selection. My collection slowly grew.
Then I branched out nationally, my dad would sometimes travel around the country for work and I'd remind him to pick up some of the local beer cans for me. This really helped my collection and elevated my collection to compete with some of the more impressive collections around Lincoln.
Then I remember seeing that President Carter's brother, Billy, was having his own beer made and I thought that was pretty cool. So, I decided to write Billy a letter in Georgia and I told him about my collection and that I'd like to add one of his beer cans to my collection and I mailed the letter off the next day.
Well, the weeks went by and I hadn't heard from him, so I wrote it off. Then one day out of the blue a package came addressed to me and it was from Georgia. I'd forgotten about the letter at this point, so it was a welcome surprise when I opened it up and there were six empty autographed Billy Beer cans and a letter from Billy. He thanked me for being a fan of his beer and that he was more than happy to help me add to my collection. He said he wished he could have sent me full cans but he couldn't send alcohol to a kid being that he was President Carter's brother and all.
This package and its contents really propelled my beer can collectors status and I had some serious trading leverage now with these gems. My collection got up to about 500 different cans at one point, but I always prominently displayed the Billy cans on the wall, along with the Miller cans for obvious reasons.
After high school I moved out of my parents house and the cans got put into storage. I moved a lot back then so I never really had a place to display them and eventually ended up parting ways with many of the cans and the Billy cans got lost in the shuffle. Such a shame, a very irresponsible lad I was with no sense of historical or sentimental value.
All I really have left from the experience is the thought of Billy Carter sitting on his porch one night pounding down beers, signing them, tossing them in a box, writing a letter and moving onto the next six pack and the next letter request.
I did manage to track one Billy can from an old friend on Facebook who was parting ways with the last of his cans and wanted to know if anyone wanted any of them and I quickly snagged the Billy can.
I started locally, picking cans out of the street, garbage, and trading with friends. When my mom would drive down to the liquor store on Friday nights for here usual two can purchase, I'd tag along and guide her in her selection. My collection slowly grew.
Then I branched out nationally, my dad would sometimes travel around the country for work and I'd remind him to pick up some of the local beer cans for me. This really helped my collection and elevated my collection to compete with some of the more impressive collections around Lincoln.
Then I remember seeing that President Carter's brother, Billy, was having his own beer made and I thought that was pretty cool. So, I decided to write Billy a letter in Georgia and I told him about my collection and that I'd like to add one of his beer cans to my collection and I mailed the letter off the next day.
Well, the weeks went by and I hadn't heard from him, so I wrote it off. Then one day out of the blue a package came addressed to me and it was from Georgia. I'd forgotten about the letter at this point, so it was a welcome surprise when I opened it up and there were six empty autographed Billy Beer cans and a letter from Billy. He thanked me for being a fan of his beer and that he was more than happy to help me add to my collection. He said he wished he could have sent me full cans but he couldn't send alcohol to a kid being that he was President Carter's brother and all.
This package and its contents really propelled my beer can collectors status and I had some serious trading leverage now with these gems. My collection got up to about 500 different cans at one point, but I always prominently displayed the Billy cans on the wall, along with the Miller cans for obvious reasons.
After high school I moved out of my parents house and the cans got put into storage. I moved a lot back then so I never really had a place to display them and eventually ended up parting ways with many of the cans and the Billy cans got lost in the shuffle. Such a shame, a very irresponsible lad I was with no sense of historical or sentimental value.
All I really have left from the experience is the thought of Billy Carter sitting on his porch one night pounding down beers, signing them, tossing them in a box, writing a letter and moving onto the next six pack and the next letter request.
I did manage to track one Billy can from an old friend on Facebook who was parting ways with the last of his cans and wanted to know if anyone wanted any of them and I quickly snagged the Billy can.
